Постановление ГОКО № 9887сс/оп «О Специальном комитете при ГОКО» · 20 August 1945

GKO Resolution No. 9887

GKO 결의 제9887호

A top-secret decree of the USSR State Defense Committee (GKO) signed by Joseph Stalin on 20 August 1945, fourteen days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, establishing the 'Special Committee under the GKO' to direct the crash Soviet atomic bomb program. Chaired by Lavrentiy Beria with eight other members, it created a Technical Council and the First Main Directorate (PGU) to oversee 'all work on the utilization of intra-atomic energy of uranium,' becoming the institutional foundation of the Soviet nuclear weapons project.

In depth

Background

The US atomic bombings of Hiroshima (6 August 1945) and Nagasaki (9 August 1945) impressed upon Soviet leadership the urgency of acquiring nuclear weapons. On 20 August 1945, Stalin signed State Defense Committee (GKO) Resolution No. 9887, shifting from scattered wartime research to an all-out crash program. The document bore the classifications 'сс' (совершенно секретно, top secret) and 'оп' (особая папка, special dossier).

Key Provisions

The resolution provided for: (1) a nine-member Special Committee under the GKO, chaired by L. P. Beria with G. M. Malenkov, N. A. Voznesensky, B. L. Vannikov, A. P. Zavenyagin, I. V. Kurchatov, P. L. Kapitsa, V. A. Makhnev, and M. G. Pervukhin; (2) a mandate encompassing nuclear research, geological prospecting and uranium mining, industrial processing, and the development and production of atomic bombs; (3) an eleven-member Technical Council chaired by B. L. Vannikov; (4) the First Main Directorate (PGU) under the Council of People's Commissars, subordinated to the Special Committee, to direct research, design, and production organizations, with Vannikov as its first chief; (5) extraordinary powers for the Special Committee, including binding orders to all commissariats, its own budget and bank account, and resource allocation through Gosplan as 'GKO Special Expenditures.'

Historical Significance

When the GKO was disbanded on 4 September 1945, the Special Committee was transferred to the Council of People's Commissars and, from March 1946, to the Council of Ministers. Under this structure the first Soviet nuclear test, RDS-1, succeeded on 29 August 1949. The Special Committee was dissolved on 26 June 1953, coinciding with Beria's arrest, and absorbed into the Ministry of Medium Machine-Building. Resolution No. 9887 marks the institutional launch of the Soviet Union's full-scale entry into the nuclear arms race.

References

  • Атомный проект СССР: Документы и материалы. Т. II, кн. 1. М.; Саров: Наука, Физматлит; РФЯЦ-ВНИИЭФ, 1999.
  • Mark Kramer, "Documenting the Early Soviet Nuclear Weapons Program," Cold War International History Project Bulletin, Issues 6-7, Winter 1995/1996.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia (RU) confirms the resolution created the Special Committee under GKO on 20 August 1945, its full title, membership, and subordinate bodies
  2. ru.wikisource.org full Wikisource text of the resolution: preamble, nine-member committee, Technical Council, First Main Directorate, extraordinary powers, and funding provisions
  3. wilsoncenter.org Mark Kramer in the Cold War International History Project Bulletin: English translation, declassification history (Voenno-istoricheskii zhurnal, 1995), and scholarly analysis of the edict's provisions
  4. docs.historyrussia.org Russian archival citation: РЦХИДНИ. Ф. 644, оп. 2, д. 533, л. 80-84, published in Атомный проект СССР, Т. II, кн. 1 (1999)
  5. special.kommersant.ru Kommersant special project on Soviet atomic history: confirms 20 August 1945 as the founding date of the atomic industry, lists committee membership, and contextualizes the resolution within the Cold War
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